E-Paper
External review panel suggests centrally-funded tag for PEC
The review panel’s report was on Monday handed over to the PEC’s board of governors (BoG) during its meeting. The centrally funded technical institute (CFTI) tag, according to the panel, will pave the way for PEC to be an “institution of national importance”.
The external peer review committee that visited Punjab Engineering College (PEC) from November 28 to 30 has suggested that the institute be brought under the aegis of the Union ministry of education and be declared a centrally funded technical institute (CFTI), a demand also being pushed by the institute for years now.
At present, PEC is funded by the UT administration and follows the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulations. In case it gets the CFTI tag, it will be governed by the Council of National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (NITSER) and come directly under the Union ministry of education.
The panel’s report was on Monday handed over to the PEC’s board of governors (BoG) during its meeting. The CFTI tag, according to the panel, will pave the way for PEC to be an “institution of national importance”.
The panel comprising professionals from diverse fields was chaired by Satish Kumar, chairperson of Armaments Research Board, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Union ministry of defence. Kumar also discussed the salient features of the report while it was handed over to BoG on Monday.
“The EPR committee is of the opinion that the deemed-to-be university has not been able to create the governance structure, processes and capabilities that will enable it to optimally leverage its mandate for autonomy. They also suggested a strong organisational change,” the institute said in its official communique.
The institute director will now prepare a detailed analysis of the report and present it in the next BoG meeting.
PEC’s efforts for CFTI tag
Eyeing the CFTI tag, the PEC director in November had also made a presentation in the presence of UT adviser Dharam Pal. Prior to this, the institute has sent multiple proposals to the UT administration — the latest being in July 2022.
With no major infrastructure revamp for PEC in recent years, a CFTI tag is considered a game changer for the institute. PEC will become an institution of national importance and its funding will be more liberal. The BoG on Monday also discussed improvements in the institute’s governance, policy, infrastructure, staffing and faculty-student ratio.
